On an intuitive level this makes sense. An employee that feels well rewarded and supported by their employer is likely to be more engaged with their job – and there is plenty of evidence to equate employee engagement with improved bottom-line performance.

So why are some UK employers still not getting the balance right? Several larger organisations will point to the employee benefits they offer as evidence that they are a caring company.

But in many cases these benefits have not been well communicated to staff and this results in limited usage, meaning that the benefits package is undervalued or even ignored by the workforce it is intended to help.

Hence it’s never enough to simply offer great benefits and employment practices, such as flexible working, you need to make sure that employees understand and value what is being offered to them.

And in order to do that, you need to be able to communicate well, and regularly, to your employees to ensure both parties achieve maximum advantage from the arrangements on offer.

During my career I have seen many examples of both bad and good practice in this area. On the negative side, I have often been struck by how many employers are not prepared to promote elements of their benefits package – often for fear that employees may seek to use the package for reasons not intended.

One example is income protection. A vital employee benefit, it is sometimes not championed by employers who misguidedly believe that staff will be encouraged to use the cover provided to leave the workplace under a fraudulent (or at least exaggerated) claim.

Likewise, I have seen companies being wary of the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for fear that their workforce will utilise the free legal advice to bring cases against the employer.

Yet for every poor example there are other employers who use often limited budgets to achieve a successful measure of goodwill from their employees.

When judging awards in the HR sector, I am often struck by how long and hard such organisations have thought about getting the “best bang for their buck” – and, crucially, helping their employees feel better valued.

In turn, the employer nearly always benefits with better performance and/or engagement – and often reduced recruitment and retention spend.

On a final and important note, the Unum blueprint also emphasises the need for parity of offering between grades so that some of your employees do not feel left out or undervalued. Structures that differ between pay scales can often lead to resentment and dissatisfaction – and can damage employment relations.

As former prime minister Jim Callaghan once said, politicians are expected to “be fair, and to care”. Frankly, that’s a pretty good starting point for employers, too.

• READ THE BLUEPRINT: the views of employees and employers at some of the UK’s established brands and innovative start-ups have been garnered, collated and edited to establish what being a caring company means. Download The Blueprint (PDF) here or check out the eBook